enhanced geothermal system

The Geothermal Resource Evaluation Program of the Eastern San Francisco
Volcanic Field, Arizona, has been a fifteen-month study collecting and evaluating geological
and geophysical data to assess the potential for a geothermal resource in this region. The San
Francisco Volcanic Field has been recognized as a target for geothermal exploration for more
than thirty years, primarily based on the volume and youth of volcanic rocks in the field.
Interest has never progressed to the stage of drilling, however, because the field lacks surface
geothermal manifestations, such as geysers, hot springs, or fumaroles. Cold water springs
are also absent in the field because it is a recharge area for the regional aquifer system, and a
working hypothesis at the beginning of this project was that a deep thermal system was
masked beneath the shallow recharge system. Previous studies have provided strong
evidence that there is heat, and perhaps partial melt from the eruption of the San Francisco
Peaks in the deep crust.

Publication Date

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